Here are a few quotes with some annotation:
It is a matter of life and death, a road either to safety or to ruin.
The art of war, then, is governed by five constant factors:
(1) The Moral Law (Inspire trust to earn loyalty.)
(2) Heaven
(3) Earth
(4) The Commander
(5) Method and discipline.
The Commander stands for the virtues of wisdom, sincerely, benevolence, courage and strictness.
(1) Which of the two sovereigns is imbued with the Moral law?
(2) Which of the two generals has most ability?
(3) With whom lie the advantages derived from Heaven and Earth?
(4) On which side is discipline most rigorously enforced?
(5) Which army is stronger?
(6) On which side are officers and men more highly trained? ("Train hard, fight easy.")
(7) In which army is there the greater constancy both in reward and punishment?
All warfare is based on deception. (Show zone and play man.)
Attack him where he is unprepared, appear where you are not expected. (Much to be gained from ball reversal and inside to outside ball movement.)
The general who loses a battle makes but few calculations beforehand. ("Failing to prepare is preparing to fail.")
A ruler can bring misfortune upon his army: By employing the officers of his army without discrimination, through ignorance of the military principle of adaptation to circumstances. This shakes the confidence of the soldiers. (Players are not interchangeable commodities.)
(1) He will win who knows when to fight and when not to fight.
(2) He will win who knows how to handle both superior and inferior forces. (How to win with less talent...Hubie Brown)
(3) He will win whose army is animated by the same spirit throughout all its ranks. (4) He will win who, prepared himself, waits to take the enemy unprepared.
(5) He will win who has military capacity and is not interfered with by the sovereign.
Security against defeat implies defensive tactics; ability to defeat the enemy means taking the offensive. (Defense gives us a chance, offense helps us overcome.)
He wins his battles by making no mistakes.
The consummate leader cultivates the moral law (trust), and strictly adheres to method and discipline (operations).
In all fighting, the direct method may be used for joining battle, but indirect methods will be needed in order to secure victory. (Find what's hard to defend.)
There are not more than five primary colors (blue, yellow, red, white, and black), yet in combination they produce more hues than can ever been seen.
Therefore the clever combatant imposes his will on the enemy. (Set the tempo.)
Appear at points which the enemy must hasten to defend; march swiftly to places where you are not expected. (Back door cut against overplay and pressure.)
You can be sure of succeeding in your attacks if you only attack places which are undefended. ("Offense is spacing and spacing is offense.")
And if we are able thus to attack an inferior force with a superior one, our opponents will be in dire straits ( Create mismatches and overloads.)
The spot where we intend to fight must not be made known.
Do not repeat the tactics which have gained you one victory, but let your methods be regulated by the infinite variety of circumstances. ("Adapt and overcome.")
So in war, the way is to avoid what is strong and to strike at what is weak. (Offense chooses to attack weak defenders.)
He who can modify his tactics in relation to his opponent and thereby succeed in winning, may be called a heaven-born captain.
Lagniappe: Iverson cut plus
Charlotte Hornets - Iverson, Euro 1 pic.twitter.com/tTmZf0Me1z— SeanBillermanHoops (@HoopsSean) November 1, 2019
Lagniappe 2: It's tryout season. How do you deal with rejection? It's natural to be sad and feel depressed. "Would that help?" Or, be consumed about improvement, so that nobody can reject you.
Author Neil Gaiman tells the story of a frustrated young writer contacting Harlan Ellison for advice. Ellison responded, "The problem is...what you're writing is crap. What you have to do is write really good stuff." The writer, Joe Stracynski has written for many series - The Twilight Zone, Murder, She Wrote, Babylon 5, and others and has won numerous industry awards.